Not Exactly A Love Story
by nocchi
Summary: With Battle of the Bands around the corner, Natsu's to-be-named-later band faces the biggest challenges yet. Follow the journey of the band as they learn about what it takes to be a winner. The story about girls, friendship, music, and also about what do you want to be in the future.
1. Battle of the Bands

This is my first fanfic! I hope you liked itttt, I'm still trying my best to improve my writing, so if you guys not satisfied with my spelling or grammar or anything, I'll try my best! But actually I'm suck at grammar

This is only the first chapter, but there's going to be much characters to come, like Lucy.

Enjoy!

I don't own Fairy Tail.

* * *

I thumped my feet repeatedly, making beats unconsciously. I whistle a few notes from my favorite song, and let myself completely immersed in the daydream. Classroom atmosphere are very noisy when it's lunch break. There's like too much noise at the same time that seeks for attention, and it's very suffocating sometimes.

"I've been looking for you." Gray told me after he sit down in front of me.

Great, just another extra voice that seeks for attention.

"What do you want?" I lazily answered him.

"You know about Battle of the Bands?" Gray asked.

I never paid attention to almost anything, so I don't think I'm sure what he means by Battle of the Bands. But judging by the names, I think the simple explanation would be: Bands competing for something – let's say, a prize. "Yea, I guess." I mumbled.

"Well, let's make one."

"Make what?" I asked.

"A band! Let's make a band and compete in Battle of the Bands for this year." He exclaimed enthusiastically.

"We can't play any instruments," I pointed out.

"No, this is actually perfect. You got to be the drummers though, you just have to." He sound very determined to make this thing actually happen, and it's annoyed me.

"Why?"

"You used to practice drums, just so you can get in to the school orchestra so that you can talk to Lisanna, so you practically can play drums."

"That was like two years ago?!" I scoffed. "And if I'm good at it I would be in the school orchestra by now, and Lisanna would probably already be my girlfriend." I added, furiously.

"Well, it's different. Come on, the school orchestra are like boring and the role for a drummers are very small, but if you're in the band though…" he put an dramatic pause. "It's a whole different story. Drummers are cool, girls actually dig drummers."

I sighed. "Ok, let's say I'm the drummer, so I'm guessing you must be playing the role as the lead guitarist?" I paused to see his reaction, and he nodded accordingly not to my surprise. "You can even barely tune a guitar."

"I can find someone who can." He retorted, rather quickly.

"Who's going to play the bass?" I asked and he grinned.

"I know a perfect person for that spot." He sounds very confident about what he's going to do, sadly, I don't.

And then, the next thing I know, I get drag by Gray to the orchestra practice room. We take a peek through a small window at the door, as we practically squished our cheeks together to get to see what's inside. "Uh, what are we looking for exactly? I thought we're looking for someone who can play bass." Without me realizing, that maybe, I was starting to get interested into this whole band thing. I mean, study said that 63% of girls said that: they found boys who asked 'Wanna go to the backstage?' are much more attractive than boys who said 'I love you'

So that's just like, one of the million reasons why I should agree with Gray's idea. I mean, who knows, maybe if I'm in the band and I get to win this Battle of the Bands thing, Lisanna will start to noticed me.

I continue to peek inside, trying to find Lisanna in this small opportunity, she play violin and I tell you it's easy to find.

"You know that guy there, with the orange hair?" I searched inside the room again and spotted a guy with reddish-orang hair. A ginger? Really Gray?

"Yeah, what about him?"

"His name is Loki and he plays cello for the school orchestra." He explained.

I keep quiet for a while to understand what he meant. But I failed miserably. "Yeah, I'm lost here" I told him.

He sighed. "Cello played vertically, but if you turn it horizontally, boom, it's a bass" he explained but I keep staring at him confusingly. "Oh, just trust me on this one."

I've known Gray for 9 years, and since little, he's been playing guitar. He's not good at it, he's even bad at it, but I guess playing guitar for him is just another hobby that he will never get serious with. But then, knowing myself, I think he knew about the music universe more than myself, so I got to trust him somehow. He's my best friend after all.

The next day, I was told by Gray that he set up a practice appointment at some rental studio. So I picked up my towel and head for the showers. When I'm done, I put on my clothes and make a mental note to myself not to forget to bring the recently new drumsticks I bought yesterday. I went downstairs and eat lunch that mom already prepared for me. After I'm done eating, I said goodbye to my mom and left for the band practice.

I thought Gray is just messing around, but apparently, he's serious about this whole band thing. I think this is actually a good stuff. I think it's good to have productive activity that required myself to get out of my comfy and sacred room. Mom supports me too, because she always get angry at me because I can stayed at my room for 12 hours and only get out for dinner and school. She's a lunatic, I must tell you. She always yells at me for not cleaning my room. It's not like I'm out every night doing crystal meth and bang every girls I can find, I just stay inside my room, probably on the internet or plays games. How can mom always get angry at me for that?

Of course mom never get angry at Wendy. What a prick. Seriously, every little sister seems to always get away with everything.

"You got one hour to practice." The owner told us.

When we get inside the room it hit me that we don't even have a vocalist, I say, "Ok. Who's going to sing?"

"I am." Gray said.

"Objection!" I quickly screamed.

"Overruled!" Gray screamed back.

"Why don't Loki sings?" I suggested and whining at the same time.

"Because he can't!" Gray argued.

"You can't?" My eyes now focused on Loki.

"Well…" Loki murmured.

"Sing!" I demand. My eyes motion to the mic stand as Gray crossed his arms across his chest.

Loki walks quietly towards the mic as I tap my drumsticks repeatedly at my thighs. Loki seems nervous when he grab the mic stands, and as he put his mouth close to the mic I get a little excited to hear what his voice sounds like but he didn't say anything. I keep on waiting, but he still didn't say anything. "Well?" I said.

Gray glared at me. "Told you."

"Uh, I already said a few words." Loki objected.

"I didn't hear anything." I pointed out.

"But I did say something."

"No, you didn't. You just stand there and – hum, like a monk!"

"He's suffered from stage fright." Gray explained to me.

I explode. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE HAVE A STAGE FRIGHT?"

"He can't perform!" Gray shouts.

"Then what the hell is he doing here? If he can't handle when it's only the both of us watching, how come he can handle hundreds of people watching in the final?!" I talked like it's certain that we will get to the final.

"Trust me, he can. Right Loki?" Gray turned to face Loki.

"Yeah." Loki nod.

"How?"

"Because Karen will be there."

"Karen? You're together with Karen? And shouldn't it frighten you more if someone you like watching you? I never know Karen were interested in bands, I though she was more a boy-band type girl, she come just to see you huh? How lucky." I talk too much sometime.

"I am… complicated." Loki admitted. "And, no, we're not together."

"Yeah, but you're close with her right?" I raised my eyebrow at him. I find this as an opportunity to get Loki befriend me with Karen, because, Karen is popular and so is Lisanna, and you know how high school worked. Cool people always, I mean _always_, hang out together, even if they secretly hate each other in the inside. If I get to be friend with Karen, then it's an easy access to talk with Lisanna too. It's one of the magic in high school, that if you talk to one of her friend, you actually raised up to 30% of your chances with her.

"Good question. First, I'm not close with Karen. She doesn't even know I exist. Second, she's there because one of her friends compete in Battle of the Bands, and you may ask 'Then why did you agree with Gray?' is because he bribed me with new collections photos of Karen." He paused, "and mostly because I want Karen to recognize me." He sighed and I was a little bit disappointed with his answers.

"You, ice moron! You bribed him?" I snickered at Gray.

"Well, I can't help it."

"Can I ask you guys a question?" Loki interrupted. We both nod, "Why do you suddenly want to participate in the Battle of the Bands?"

"Easy," Gray smirked. "I want people to be afraid of how talented I am and how good looking I am."

Here's a fact: Both Gray and I are not popular. But we're not the most-unpopular-kids in school either. We just normal. Most of the popular boys play sports, but we play games for hours, and I think the popular kids doesn't quiet like it. But, who cares? The popular kids doesn't get our jokes, and so did we. So there's nothing in common. Popular kids are perfectly boring while we're just completely and ridiculously awesome.

But sometimes in this popular clique, there's always someone who is actually a nice person deep inside. Like, Lisanna. But not Karen, she's what people mostly said, a heinous bitch. I even wondered how Loki took a liking towards Karen. She always treated everyone like some peasant. But with Lisanna… what should I say… she's every boys dream. She's cute, beautiful, nice, kind, well-mannered, and she's kind, smart, and kind… did I already mention 'kind'?

Loki turns to face me, waiting for my answer, "Oh, well, I don't know. It's fun?" Why should I tell the truth anyway? How can I say, "Yeah, I want to be cool so that I can finally get the chance to talk to Lisanna and maybe get to kiss her."

"Guys, enough with the talk!" Gray voice shouted very loudly, as if he demands some serious attention. "I know my voice doesn't sound too great." I snorted, tell me about it. "We're going to find a vocalist, trust me. But in the meantime let me do the singing." Well, that's pretty fair. "I applied yesterday and the committee give me this," he pulled out a piece of crumpled paper out of his jeans pocket, "We have to come up with an original songs,"

"Sounds easy." Loki commented.

"Yeah, but it has to be about love." Gray added and I dropped my drumsticks.

LOVE?

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT LOVE IS.

Here's some fact about me: I'm a coward when it comes to love or anything that required unnecessary feelings. I'm an idiot at it.

"How are we going to write something about love?" Loki seems nervous.

"No, no, you see, love is very well connected with girls, so why don't we write something – like a guy who's in love. We can observe Loki," Gray suggested.

"Why me?!" Loki looks like he's about to lose his mind.

"Because you're in love with Karen, and it's much more easier to write songs if we observe the real deal." Gray said but Loki didn't seem to argue much further. "We don't have the song yet, so let's just practice anything we can come up with."

He seems to be taking control of everything since the beginning?

Who vote for him to be the leader?

His mother?

I hold the drumsticks between my thumb and index finger and wrap my remaining fingers around the sticks. I start making a beat after I tapped my foot on the pedals continuously, Loki start to strum the bass as Gray followed with his guitar and he starts to sing. He starts a sentence, and I bet he doesn't even know where he's going, but I know that deep down, everyone in this room, hoping that Gray will find it along the way.

BUT IT'S TERRIBLE.

"WAIIIIIITT!" I screamed as loud as I can, as Gray turn to face me, glaring. "How do I say, 'You're annoying and you suck at singing' without offending you?"

Gray then mouthed "I will kill you" to me.

I stare at Gray, the situation was intense, but when I'm about to get up and kick Gray, Loki interjected, "Uh, can I go to the toiler?"

"Are you five?" Gray shout.

"I'm not!" Loki argued.

"Don't forget to wear the 'Hall Pass'" I yelled.

"Very funny, Natsu." Loki laughed sarcastically at me.

Three minutes later.

"Where the hell is Loki?" Gray shouted in aggravation. Well, someone is in a bad mood today.

Five minutes later.

"CAN WE START PRACTICING NOW?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

A very very much later…

"Guys I bring you some drinks!" Loki said excitedly while holding drinks around his arms.

"What took you so long?!" Gray asked.

"I came across a vending machine! I got thirsty! I even bought you guys some drink! Do you know how thoughtful I am?"

"What the hell is wrong with these people?" Seriously I never thought that my friends could get this weird.

"Does it kill you to say thanks?" Loki screamed.

Then suddenly, a familiar ringtone rings, I glare at Gray as he pulled out his cell from his jeans pocket. "My mom called me… that's weird," he mumbled much to himself as he head outside.

After feels like eternity…

Okay. Can we start practicing now?

Minutes later, Gray is back.

"My mom needs to attend a funeral, my sister is out with her friends, so can I come to your house after this Natsu?"

I grunted. "Talking about funerals, why don't you go ahead and die?!" I screamed in frustration.

"YOU PICKING A FIGHT WITH ME?!" Gray screamed.

Oh well, I think this is one of the reasons why studio made to be soundproof.

"Guys! Seriously! Can we start do something that actually related to Battle of the Bands?!" Loki screamed until a vein show in his neck.

So we start playing.

I try to cope with Gray singing, but it got worse when Gray take off his shirt and throw it to the side. His mind is probably all crazy and shit right now, he might even think that he's in some big stage and there's crowd surrounding him. Loki starts to enjoy the bass as he jumped up and down, and here I am, who have absolutely no idea what we're playing.

After we're done playing bunch of worthless music that we come up at that very right spot, Loki whined. "I'm thirsty." But all the drinks from before are empty, so Gray said that he'll buy some more, and because I'm thirsty too, I did not complain.

After we took a sip of our drinks and catch our breath, Loki said that he's hungry, so he went outside and buy some snacks from the vending machine. He buys more than he need, so we helped him to finish all the snacks, and actually, I'm pretty much starved.

"Ok, let's practice some more." Loki stands up.

"I need to go to the toilet." I said as I head outside quickly.

When I get back, I was greeted by a very pissed of Gray and Loki.

"AFTER THIS, NO ONE, I MEAN NO ONE HEAD OUTSIDE AGAIN!" Gray screamed as I hurriedly rush to my drums kit.

"Oh god." I said as I sit.

Gray coughed. "Ready?" but I know, this sort of question doesn't really need an answer. "One! Two! Three!"

But when I was about to hit the drums, when Loki about to play, and when Gray was about to sing the first notes…

The owner of the rental studio come in and told us that our time is up.

We are all screaming and its chaos in here.

It hit me all so suddenly.

"Oh my god. We're suck at this."

* * *

If you give me reviews... it would be great :)

For the next chapters and the more further chapters, I just want to tell you that i'm sucked at writing songs... so I guess i will use songs from bands, i will put who sing it in the authors note later on, but when it's in the story can we just pretend that it's them who write the song?

"Originality, is the undetected plagiarism"


	2. Sabertooth

I'm so sorry for uploading this really, really late... I was hesitant at first on continuing this story but I got some encouragement from my friends to continue and since I don't have anything to do beside writing If I get great reviews I will continue this story!:) And also, sorry for the grammatical error, english is not my first language:o

* * *

I can hear my mom's voice from the kitchen, indicates that her yoga session is over. Since it's Saturday, mom always cook the best meal in the whole wide world. I don't exactly know why, but there is not a single Saturday when mom is not feeling good. She always on her best day when it comes to Saturday.

The door swings open as the lights from the kitchen fill the living room. "Hi, boys." She greeted.

"Hi, Mrs. Dragneel." Gray said.

Her heels clicked against the hard wooden floor. "How's the band practice going?"

"Great," I lied, avoiding any further questions about the band practice.

"Do you decide on a name yet?" Mom asked.

"No," I mumbled while I took off my shoes.

"Making progress," Gray added, smiling.

Suddenly mom walks towards me and rub her hands on my face. "Sweetie, I made some roasted chickens, do you want to have your dinner now?"

My face lights up. "Yeah!" I said enthusiastically.

Mom hovers over me like a dark cloud. "After," she pressed. "You finished your homework, and clean your room." My face dropped.

"But," Gray interrupted. "We have a band thing to do,"

Seriously, it's like mom exist just to humiliate me. Every time my friends are around she never forget to make me do the homework, and because she just feel like she's responsible for my friends too, she made them do it, she even checks it over and everything. It's normal though, considering what I did at school. I only came, sit, sleep and get D. Ha Ha what can I say? I'm a natural slacker at heart.

"Then boys, go order from take out menus" She smiled, the corner of her lips quirk a little bit. It scared and annoyed the hell out of me every time she does that.

"But, mom!" I whined. "It's Saturday, I still have Sunday before Monday,"

"Okay, I give you the final offer. Vacuum the living room."

"But," Gray try to say something but I interjected him by glaring at him and hit him in the arm. There is no way I'm going to miss mom's cooking on Saturday.

"Thought so," Mom smiled devilishly and head back to the kitchen.

"Don't even start an argument with my mom, because she have 4528734 GB of memories and will bring up something what we did at 23:34 PM on 29/12/2010" I hissed at Gray.

"We did what again?" Gray asked.

"Lit up fireworks and almost burn down the neighborhood."

"Oh yeah." He said. "But she can't possibly remember down to the details,"

"There's a reason why they called 'moms' Gray."

Gray shrugs and we start vacuuming the living room.

Gray peeked through the curtains at the corner, he's been staring outside for the last five minutes. I didn't bother him that much, I just keep vacuuming the carpet and ignore the fact that there's someone, my best friend basically that has been standing in front of my window staring at God knows what.

"Is someone moving?" he asked.

"I think so," I answer reluctantly.

"Natsu," Gray said my name. "Any chance you remember Lucy?"

"Lucy?" I asked in confusion as I walk towards him and stand next to him.

"You know, Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia," he elaborated. "I think it's her…" Gray trailed off.

Lucy Heartfilia?

The memories of her came rushing back.

There was one time when I'm in the 3rd Grade that Gray made fun of me non-stop. Mom stuffed some go-to-yoghurt – my favorite flavor Berry Blue Blast – into my bag without me knowing. Gray made fun of me because of it, since he was a kid, he always have this messed up mind, he always think he knows what's cool and what's not cool enough. So I get pissed at him. I throw my Go-Gurt at him as fast as I could, as hard as I could, with all of my power focused on my right arm, but he unfortunately ducked and I ended up hitting a girl sitting at the next table in the back of the head. It's Lucy. The Go-Gurt exploded and going all into her hair. One kid at the table shouted, "Hey Lucy, you actually look good in blue hair" after that she cry. To make it worse, everyone start chanting something like, "Natsu made a girl cry! Natsu made a girl cry!" and my bad day doesn't end there, Lisanna stood up in front of me and said, "Shouldn't you be apologizing to her?" but I was frozen in place and the next thing I knew, Lisanna hover over Lucy to calm her down and head outside together. I still completely fixed in place trying to grasp everything. Lisanna, my crush, my soul mate, my everything, just talked to me! Woah.

It was a very traumatizing and confusing event.

And then I realized that Lisanna talked to me because I made a girl cry. It's bad right? Almost 6 months I have a crush on her and she talked to me because I made a girl cry!

To fix that up, I tried to apologize to Lucy the next day, to clear up my name or whatever, I mean who knows, she can casually talk to Lisanna in the future and when they mention my name it would reminded them to the memory of: me not apologizing to Lucy. And I don't want that, I want my image to be good in front of Lisanna, I want to be like boyfriend-material for her. Since Lucy live basically next to me, I ran up to her house, but her house was empty, and later I found out from my mom that the Heartfilia family moved.

I never got the chance to say sorry, and the fact still remained: Lucy crushed my image in front of Lisanna. To Lisanna 3rd Grade eyes, I was some jerk who throws some yoghurt at a girl and made her cry and didn't even bother to apologize.

"Lucy? Yeah, I remember her." I gulped.

"Let's say 'Hi' to her!"

"What? Why?!"

"You know, to ask how is she and such,"

"Why are we even discussing this? I'm hungry, but in order to eat I have to finish vacuuming, so let's continue on our chores!"

"Wow. That sounds very unlike you. Come on! At least welcome her to the neighborhood again."

I sigh. "I'm kinda allergic to her," I admitted.

"What? You never told me you're allergic to girls,"

"No, it's not girls I'm allergic about, it's her… just her," I explained to him.

"You're allergic to Lucy?" Gray asked and paused for a moment, and then he burst out laughing. "What is that supposed to mean?" his eyes starts to get teary from the laughing. I kept quiet, telling him telepathically that I'm serious. "Oh, you're serious? So do you like get a rash or something if you come into contact with her?"

"No!" I sighed heavily. "It's not something serious like that, it's just that I prefer to not be around her,"

"Why? What happen?"

"You knew damn well what happened between me and Lucy!" I gave him a look.

"Oh!" He shouted. "That one time on 3rd Grade right? You hit her with a Go-Gurt!" Gray recalled.

"Yeah, and I think she still hates me for that,"

"Come on that was a long time ago! She probably forget about it already,"

"I still don't want to talk to her,"

"But I do," Gray said.

"Then you go ahead!" I hissed.

"Look, you gotta have to talk to her at school eventually, what's the differences it would make if you talk to her now?" Gray raised his eyebrows at me.

"Is she even going to hang with us?" I scoffed.

"I don't know, but she have what it takes to be popular,"

"See? She's going to hang out with people like Lisanna, she's not going to hang with us! I don't think she even remembers us, so why do we have to talk to her?"

"Well, I guess we could talk to her at school tomorrow."

* * *

I wonder, why does everyone who's in the cafeteria are always fake? Especially the girls. They're all kissing and hugging and squealing, while in the meantime they annihilated each other behind their back but they still remains friend in the surface. Why? But it's not like they really know the answer, they've been programmed by society to believe that popular girls only hangs with popular girls, only.

After queuing up for my food I head towards to the right window, I put my tray down on an empty table. I sit down and start rummaging my fries.

"Hey, Natsu!" a girl voice screeches behind me. I turned and looked up to see an enormous pair of breasts bouncing towards my way. It belongs to Lisanna. I almost dropped my fries. Almost. Fries and chicken nuggets are very precious to me, I will not miss a single fries or chicken nuggets.

I haven't talked to her since last February, and that's three months ago. "Hey, Lisanna" I say, polite.

"Mr. Gildarts told me he's been looking for you, something about detention," Lisanna said sitting next to me. I gulped.

"Oh, yeah that" What? Mr. Gildarts? "I'll go find him after school, thanks anyway"

She nodded. "So, what's up?" she smiled.

"Uh, waiting for Gray and Loki," of course I don't want to be seen as some person who eats alone.

"Oh." She says. "So, I guess I'll see you at class okay?" she smiled once again.

I nodded.

There's a second of regret after she walks away, because I want to talk to her more, and all I can do was just nodding and saying something like "Oh," or, "That," or, "Yeah," but there's nothing I can say beside that, I can't help it that she look so pretty in her slightly creased school uniform that makes my mind completely blank. Then Loki interrupts my mind by racing up to the table.

"Natsu! What's up! Long time no see! Miss you man,"

He actually saw me two days ago.

Loki put his tray down and joined me. "I've come up for the band name,"

"Ha!" I say.

"The Lucky Bastards." Loki said very proudly I must admit.

"The Lucky Bastards?!" I repeated.

"Yeah!" He pumps his fist to the air enthusiastically.

"It sounds catchy… but let's wait for Gray," I suggested.

"I'm gonna tell you the reason why you should choose that," he smirked. "I was down at the shore yesterday with my family, and there's a group of boys…"

And the story continues. His stories are endless.

Minutes later Gray joined us and I still let Loki ramble about why we should agree on the Lucky Bastards.

"Hey man," said Gray.

"Hey."

"I have bad news," Gray announced.

"What is it?" Asked Loki.

"Sting's band decided to join The Battle Of the Bands."

"Sting? As in Sting Eucliffe my cousin?" This is a very very bad news. You see, Sting has been playing guitar since he was a kid, unfortunately. And good God, he's good at it.

"Yeah, the band called 'Sabertooth'" Gray told us.

"What? That sounds sucks!" Loki commented.

"At least they don't actually sounds suck when they play," I said.

"They actually sounds amazing, I mean look at us, we don't even have the name for our band," Gray sighed.

"We do actually," Loki interrupted.

"The Lucky Bastards?" I asked at Loki. He nodded. "I didn't exactly agree on that,"

"But it sounds cool!" Loki exclaimed.

"It actually does! Sounds catchy!" Gray smirked.

"Told you," Loki glanced at me.

I glared at Loki but turn my sight back at Gray. "So, do you have something we should know about them?"

"Okay, so we have Orga as the drummers, Rufus on bass, Rogue on guitar and last we have the talented Sting as the lead guitar and probably the lead singer, since he doesn't sound that bad, but I heard they've been looking for a singer," Gray explained.

"We're doomed." Loki said.

"They sure will make a great song. Rufus is good at writing poetics thingy," Gray reminded us as I search the room for Sting.

There he is.

As usual, surrounded by a group of girls.

"It's hopeless for us. Sting is popular, it's easier for him to gain fans than we are." I told them while keeping my gaze at Sting.

Loki turns around to follow where my gaze looking at, "I wonder what it's like to be so good looking, that people get nervous by talking to you" mumbled Loki.

"The kind of feeling we will never get, by the way," scoffed Gray.

"Do you really have to point that out?!" Loki asked in annoyance.

"What? It's the truth! Or, we can ruin his face by doing some pranks," suggested Gray, lighten up.

"Or change his shampoo so his hair will not look that good, or even more, we dye his hair! Or we inject him with some virus!" I laughed maniacally. Ignoring the fact that he's my cousin and we unfortunately share the same – but just a little – blood.

"Seriously, you guys are horrible" said Loki in horror.

I look at Gray as he looked at me, smirking devilishly. "Yeah, it keeps us awake at night." I smirked.

Gray expression suddenly went from normal to surprised. "Oh hey, it's Lucy! LUCYYY!" he shouted waving his hand in the air as Lucy turns around.

I quickly hit him in the arm. "What the fuck are you doing! Why are you calling her? If she's here what the hell am I supposed to say? I thought I told you I didn't want to speak with her." I said frantically.

She starts walking towards our table.

"Just say something," Gray shrugged.

"Who is that beautiful lady?" Loki murmured in awe. I choose to ignore him. I don't want to deal with him right now… Loki plus girls are the most annoying things in the world.

"Hey," Lucy said. "Gray right?"

"Yeah! You remember me? Great! What about him?" Gray motions towards me.

Lucy examine me for a while and I try so hard not to stare at her.

"Natsu?" She sounds unsure.

"Heeeeeeeey" I stretched the 'hey' word awkwardly. "Lucy," I added.

Lucy chuckled a little bit. "You used to call me Luigi."

I blushed.

"I'm Loki! Lucy right? What a beautiful name," Loki starts to flirt. Seriously he needs to see himself through someone's eyes. He's terrible at girls. Well, I do too, but at least I don't let the world know about it.

"Oh, heey?" Lucy sounds confuse.

"You're creeping her out," Gray spat at Loki.

Then Lucy eyes starts searching the room. I bet she's talking to herself; What the hell am I doing here with these three dorks? I have to go before anyone see me talking with this losers. "I'll see you guys later then," Lucy awkwardly wave at us as she smile sheepishly and walk away from our table.

Told you she's leaving.

"She's pretty" Gray admitted watching Lucy walked away in awe.

"She is," Loki agreed.

"Hmm" I mumble while I chew my food.

She's pretty but that's it. The way I looked at Lucy would not be the same as the way I looked at Lisanna. A definition of beauty that can sum up the beauty of Lisanna is only a marshmallow. Lisanna to me was a sugary, puffy objects, that shaped a few millimetres in diameter that melts deliciously in my mouth, and mostly because I love marshmallow.

"Natsu!" Gray shouted in front of me, taking me back to reality.

"Huh? What?" I asked him, rather annoyed.

"We need a song, you should write the lyrics." Loki told me.

"Why should I?" I protested.

"You won the best poem in class" Gray reminded.

"I googled it," I admitted. "Loki should write the lyrics, since he's in love an all."

"How should I write a song about a heinous bitch? She's one though ass woman!" Loki argued.

"Yeah, that's not possible. She's popular and all, and you're not, and also, your hair is orange." I pointed out.

"My hair is great for your information!" he shouted, offended.

"Since when?!" I shouted back.

"Come on guys don't fight. It's true tough Loki, you probably will not have a chance in talking to her, the best chances you can have is to write a song about her and perform it in front of her." Gray took a sip of his drink. His eyes remain sharp towards Loki, as if signaling him 'Come on. Do it. This is your only chance.'

I guess it's in Loki nature that he can't take any offensive sentence that aims towards him. "I'll prove it to you I can write a song about Karen. You two just leave me a bag of chips and leave me alone, your job is just to think about the band name while I take care of the song! In five days I can make a fine ass song about Karen that will take us to the Semifinals." Wow. He sounds very determined.

* * *

Back in class, I prop my chin on my hands and listened to Mr. Freed blabbering about Takeda Shingen. Hm. Takeda, or Shingen, maybe I could use that for a band name. I yawn for the thousand times for this class. "You must've been familiar with the phrase 'Furinkazan' that very closely related every time we mention Takeda Shingen. Basically, it's a battle standard that Takeda Shingen use. Move as swift as the wind, stay as silent as a forest, attack as fierce as fire, be immovable like a mountain." Mr. Freed goes back to the chalkboard and starts writing stuff about Takeda Shingen, and I know I should pay attention to it since I got a really bad grades on history, but I can see Lisanna sitting next to me with her lip bitten slightly, and it makes me nervous and self-conscious.

Thank god for the peripheral vision. Because of this I can watch her without actually have to look over. She taps her fingers against her sweater slowly as she concentrated on what Mr. Freed saying. Lisanna's eyes were glued to the front of the classroom, and this is okay, because it means I can stare at her for the longest time without her noticing. That, until she decide to glance at me briefly. I looked right at her as she looked right at me. I freak out and look away like I usually did. What a loser.

* * *

I met up with Gray at the hall after school, without Loki, since he decided that he needs some time alone to write song for Karen. My steps slowed when I see Lisanna standing in front of the school gate, seeing her makes me remember what happened during Mr. Freed class. I cowardly look away from her because I'm embarrassed. I was getting closer and she wasn't moving. Maybe if I took long enough to get there, she'd go away. But she didn't.

"Oh, hey Lisanna!" said Gray. Hey, Lisanna huh? Possibly a good name for band.

"Hey Gray, Natsu!" she turns to face us.

"You guys going home?" Asked Gray.

Lisanna shook her head. "Yeah, I'm pretty tired," Lisanna said sheepishly and I think she's really cute. "What about you guys?"

"The usual, play at Natsu's house and maybe practicing some more,"

"Cool." She said. "I bet you guys sounds awesome," she grinned. Awesome? You're going to take back your words after you hear Gray sing, Lisanna. Seriously.

"Yeah, you should listen to us play sometimes."

"I'll make sure I'll watch you guys play at the Battle Of The Bands okay?" she smiled. We nodded. "So, you guys already have a song?" she took her bike and wheeled it around.

"Getting to it, Loki is currently the one who's in charge on writing it." Gray explained, glancing from her to me.

"Can't wait to hear when it's done" Lisanna said, swinging her leg over the bike seat. I swear I didn't peek her underwear, even though I see a pink color slightly.

"You'll be one of the first." Told Gray.

"Okay," she laughed slightly. "So, I see you guys later." She smiled.

"See you" replied Gray.

After Lisanna disappear from our view, Gray quickly smacked me in the head.

"What was that for?!" I shouted.

"I said 'Hi' to her so you can talk to her, but you just stand next to me like an idiot," he grumbled.

"You know I get nervous every time I talk to her!" I kicked him.

"But you don't have to kick me!" he protested.

"You're the one who smack me in the first place!"

"Hey, Natsuuuu!" I quickly froze in place as Gray turns around to see who's calling my name. Even without looking, I know it's Lucy. After catching up to us, she took a deep breath and exhaled. "Can I go home with you? Since we're heading to the same directions," she grinned, maniacally. Who can be so cheerful during this hot day?

"Uh, yeah, sure I guess." I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. I glance at Gray for his approval, and he shrugs carelessly.

"Great!" she grins cheerfully and rather cute.

After passing a couple of blocks filled with silence, Gray starts up the conversation. "Hey, Lucy, we're in a band, wanna check us out?"

Her eyes widen in surprise and then she cheered. "You guys are in a band?! That's cool! You participating for the Battle of the Bands?" she asked.

Gray nodded, very cheerfully from what I observe. "Yeah!"

"I'm in the band too!" said Lucy in enthusiasm.

I glanced at Gray; she's in a band? Telepathically speaking.

"Oh. What instruments do you play? I'm the lead guitar and the vocal, Natsu here is the drummer" said Gray nonchalantly.

"I'm a vocalist too!" she said cheerfully, like she just discover a treasure.

"You can… sing?" I asked at her disbelieved. Although her normal voice does sounds promising, I still don't buy it.

She nodded cheerfully. Lucy stepped forward, coughed a little while smiling sheepishly and then paused. She looked down and then glanced at me, and Gray too. Gray gave her a nod as a sign for "Prove it"

"Why don't you prove it?" challenged Lucy to Gray.

"Me?" echoed Gray while his index finger pointing on his own direction.

Lucy nodded casually.

Gray coughed. "Um," he mumbled and starts singing. Sometimes his voice is weird and odd, like a falsetto and then sometimes it can be so deep, and then there's time when his voice was just irritating. Now, he's singing like he's tone deaf. He coughed again after finish singing. "Sorry, can't sing without an instrument playing."

Lucy smiled wickedly. "Wow. You suck at singing."

"And, you suck at being polite woman." Gray eyes narrowed at Lucy, "Your turn," he demanded.

When she opens her mouth and starts to sing, everything I've been thinking flew right out of my head.

She was _unbelievable_.

I can see her singing in a stage with us, and the crowd will erupt into cheers and clapping. God she's good.

It wasn't like her voice is the kind of voice that most divas have, actually, her voice is kinda odd. But I liked it, _we_ liked it.

Gray and I whipped our heads to look at one another at the same time, while Lucy still carelessly singing while walking in front of us. "We have got to have her," I whispered, frantically. "Seriously. We can win if we have her."

"Absolutely, whatever it takes." Gray said.

"But she's already in a band," I reminded him.

"Oh come on. Her old band would probably a bunch of losers, we can just bribe her old band, even if they don't take the bribe, then we can just sabotage her band, piece of cake." Gray patted my shoulders with a smug grin. I gave him a look. "What?" he added.

"Okay. Whatever it takes." I agreed. "We should probably ask her about her band," I suggested.

Gray quickly whipped his head back to Lucy. "Hey, Lucy, you're in a band right? You compete in the Battle of the Bands too?" smiled Gray.

"Yeah, I never perform in front of large crowds before, and this is my first competition, so I'm very nervous and excited." She admitted.

"What's your band called?" I asked. This would be easy, this is the first time for her and her band to compete in the Battle of the Bands, poor band, have to break up so early.

"Sabertooth," she answered.

"What?" my voice hoarse. I paused for a moment because the band name sounded vaguely familiar.

"Sabertooth?" repeated Gray.

Lucy nodded and gave us a look, I could hear her inner commentary: What's wrong with them?

EVERYTHING IS WRONG LUCY!

"Natsu?" she waved a hand in front of my face.

"Sorry," I said. "I was, uh, just trying to remember of something,"

Gray cut me. "When you said you're in band called Sabertooth, does it mean you're in the same band as Sting?" he said slowly, regulating his breathing.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Sting as in blonde spiky hair Sting? With ridiculously well-shaped face?" I asked, making sure.

"Yeah, that Sting." She laughed a little.

I glanced at Gray and saw him mortified in horror by the truth. This is bad. This is really, really bad.

Then Lucy gasped, breaking the tense atmosphere. At least for me and Gray, it is. "It's five already, and my mom keeps texting me, I really should go," she smiled apologetically. We're still a couple blocks away from where we live and we can't make it in five or ten minutes by walking. "I'll see you guys later okay? Can't wait to face you guys in the Battle of the Bands!" she smiled cheerfully while running as fast as she can.

Leaving Gray and I with our mouth shaped into a big 'O'. We are doomed.


	3. I Won't Run!

Whoop whooppp! here it is the third chapter! Kyaaah thanks for the review, follows, and favs! Anyway, i've made some changes on the second chapter, I decided that the Sting's band is not Kitsune but Sabertooth!

* * *

The days flew by, and it's Friday afternoon again. I stood in front of the classroom waiting for Gray, when Lisanna come up beside me.

"Hey" she says.

"Hey" I replied.

Then Lisanna looks right at me, catching me off guard.

"Waiting for Gray?" She asked with perfect round blue eyes.

"Uh, yeah" I answered. I am instantaneously transformed into this sweating, heart-pounding freak. I am no longer the careless and goofy Natsu Dragneel when it comes to her. I'm surprised that I'm still able to speak in this condition.

"So," she say, "must've been crazy week for you right? With the band practice and all" she looked up at me.

I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. Actually… she's mistaken. The-nameless-band don't have any band practice during this week, especially since we don't have an original song to practice to, and because that damned Loki hasn't come up with the lyrics. I looked at her nervously, and then the inner me told myself to lie, so I lied. "Well, yeah sort of." Sort of? What kind of answer is that? "You?"

"Well yeah, with cram schools and all for the test, you know, not to mention the orchestra club" she huffed. Test? What test? "So, where are you applying?" she asked.

"Applying? Applying to what? Gray already taken care of the administration for Battle of the Bands…" I elaborated, not sure by what she means.

She laughs.

She laughs because of me? _Yes_.

"For the future, future," she still laughing between her words.

"Oh," I gasped. "Do you mean university…?" I asked at her as she nodded.

"Of course." She answered.

"Um," I looked down. University? I never thought of that. That also reminds me that this is my last year of school, after this… who knows what's going to happen to me? The world tour perhaps? Recording new album? Doing some meet-and-great? You know, to keep the fans happy… wait, wait, that's not possible. We're sucks, we're not even sure if we can make it to the Battle of the Bands finals, let alone be a huge band in the future. I looked up back at her, hoping she already let go of the question and move on, but no… she's still looking at me with those eyes waiting for an answer. Crap. This is bad.

"Hey guys! Watcha talking bout'?" Gray cheerful voice came from behind, and he saved me.

Lisanna caught off guard as she turns her face to see Gray. She smiled. "Hey, Gray."

Gray nodded towards her.

This is the time for me to find an excuse! Nice! "So, Lisanna, see you later, we have band practice to do," I smiled apologetically as I pushed Gray's back hurriedly.

"Oh and could you tell Loki to show up at the orchestra practice? He's been absent for a long time, I know you guys is busy with the practice, but please?" Lisanna asked us.

I gulped. She's asking me a favor. This is a first. "Sure! I'll tell him."

When we disappeared from Lisanna's view, Gray quickly hit my back. "Way to go man! I didn't know you're close with her!"

"Whoa, slow down Gray" I said as we reach the outdoor of our school. "She's just standing beside me, that's all."

"But still, you talked to her, it's a start…" he stopped talking as we both noticed the commotion near the soccer field.

We slowed our pace, I craned my neck and I had to blink once. Or twice.

Why is he standing in the soccer field?

Sting was standing in the middle of soccer field, laughing and talking. The girls were all looking at him with stupid look of admiration. The look they never gave me.

"What the hell is he doing?" asked Gray, very much confuse.

"How would I know?" I hissed.

"Well, he is your cousin, and you two basically used to be in…" I stopped him with my burning very-pissed off eyes. "Right." He nodded. "You two aren't getting along, okay, I get that. Family drama." He rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Why do girls always looking at him with those kind of expressions?" I scowled. "It's like he's got some spell over them."

"It's ridiculous. The girls are drooling, the guys are idolizing. Is he really that good?" Gray let out a big sigh.

Sadly, he is really that good at smooth talking to girls, at playing guitar, and at hating me. Sting step aside from the crowd and put a ball in front of him. Don't tell me…

"Is he going to kick that ball?" Gray said, frantically. "Hey, Natsu, are you sure that's okay?"

I kept quiet. What the hell is he doing? I thought he hate soccer and me forever, I thought he will never, ever set his foot on soccer field again. "It'll be okay for him, but he will not be able to control the ball though," I commented.

Sting take a few steps back and kick the ball. "Ouch! He ruined it," Gray said after watching him take a shot. Told you he can't control the ball.

"Not really." My voice is deep and pissed. "Look at the girls cheering, even with his legs like that, he still showing off,"

"Oi, Natsu," Gray voice was hoarse and panicked. "The ball is heading this way, don't you think we should go?"

I kept quiet staring at the ball that bounces two meters away from me. I clicked on my tongue. He's running towards me, not for me, but for the ball. "Oi!" he shouted while waving his hand carelessly, I bet he hasn't noticed that it is me who's standing here. "Could you get the ball…?" his voice become quieter with each words until there's no voice coming out from him, just him standing there looking at me with eyes full of hatred.

I stare at him back.

I could tell what he's thinking while he's standing there: I hate you, Natsu. I really do. Stop ruining my life. Stop appearing in front of me. I don't want you to be in my school, I don't even want to be in the same planet as you, I would love to move to fucking Jupiter but then I wouldn't be able to breath, so why don't you get lost!

I let out a big sighs as I make my way to the ball and give him a slow and gentle pass.

The old Sting wouldn't turn his back on me and walk away, he would smile and come up to me and ask me to play soccer together, but the old Sting doesn't exist anymore, and the new Sting would love to turn his back on me and pretend like I didn't exist.

_Damn Sting._

So I walked away too.

"Hey! You bastard! Who do you think you are?! I will destroy you in the Battle of the Bands!" Gray shouted annoyingly loud with his index finger sharply pointing at Sting's back, as if Gray challenges him. His words gain him some death glares from all the girls surround us, some snickered, some start talking. Gray seems doesn't aware of the death glares around him as he continued, "What the fuck is wrong with your cousin? He pisses me off!" Gray said a little too loudly.

"Give it a rest Gray," I told him.

Usually, I'm a hot-headed person, but when it comes to Sting, it feels like I can't do anything about it.

Sting turns around, much to my surprise. His glare is intense and intimidating, then he relaxed, shoved both of his hands to his pockets and chuckled. "Huh? Destroying me at the Battle of the Bands?"

I never used to be the kind of person who loses his temper when Sting was around, but now I felt like that all the time.

"Are you even going to make it to the semi-finals?" Sting smirked.

Gray step forward, "Of course we will!" Whoa, Gray. "We had an excellent song right up our sleeves!"

"What's the band called?" asked Sting.

Gray was taken aback for a second, then he glared at me like it was my fault that we still didn't have a name.

"Thought so," he laughed bitterly as he turns around.

This is the new Sting: cockier, moodier.

"Looking forwards to facing you in the finals!" he shouted.

I gritted my teeth.

Sting.

Whom I suddenly wanted to murder.

Gray walked away from it too as he stomped his feet furiously against the damp ground. We both glared at each other as we walked our way back home.

Loki catches up to us as he breaks the tension between me and Gray. "Hey, guys!" but none of us replied him as he confusedly walks behind us. "About the band, I got something I want to tell you guys," his voice is cheerful and excited.

DAMN LOKI! CAN'T YOU READ THE ATHMOSPHERE HERE?

I glared once again at Gray who still grumpily mumbling something to himself, so I hit him. "What was that before? We will make it to the semi-finals?!" I shouted at Gray.

"Stop talking."

"Oi, oi, are you guys fighting?" asked Loki, concerned but we ignore him once again.

I ignored Gray's demand and continue on rambling. "And even more, we have some original songs?! Gray, we don't even have the name for the band!"

"Stop talking! Stop moving your faces about with voices coming out of it!" he screamed in front of my face.

Loki coughed once. "WE DO HAVE A SONG NATSU!" He screamed gaining our attention. "It still need a lot of work to be perfect but I've made a solid 3 minutes song!" He panted.

I stare at him. Then averted my eyes back at Gray.

"Stop looking at me like that," Gray hissed as he jerked his face away from me. "I know it sounds impossible for us to win, but I'll find a way somehow, I just don't want to be suck all the time."

I gave him a crooked smile as I pat his back. "Huh? What's wrong with you? Feeling the pressure too much? Take it easy, Gray. It's only the Battle of the Bands for high schoolers, anyway."

Gray suddenly jerked away from me. "Easy for you! You've won some tournament and shit during these past three years! This is my last year at school I want to at least win something! I want to feel superior!" He panted, his breath ragged from all the shouting he made as his face grew red. "Look, I'm not as stupid as you, after I graduate I probably follow my sister lead, there will be no band for me in the future."

Sister? Ultear? But she's attending some prestigious university and majoring in arts & design and already has some big achievements, as his sister already held an exhibition for her ever famous ice sculpted design… don't tell me that Gray has been thinking about his future all these time?

"We're still kids, we still have time to think about our future, who knows! You might change your mind, don't get all too serious like that, you scared me." I give him a little laugh, even though I knew that it felt way too forced.

"I want to win too…" Loki whispered softly from behind, if it hadn't been quiet, I swore I wouldn't hear his voice. "I WANT TO WIN AS MUCH AS YOU GRAY!" He shouted very loudly. "I don't want people to think that we're just some kids messing around, getting cocky! I want the real deal! I want people look me in the eyes and know that I've done something real!"

"But," I paused because there are no words coming out of my throat.

"See? We're not kids messing around, Natsu" Gray voice is deep and heavy, as if there's layers of important reason behind his heavy voice. "We're the man in the making!" he suddenly shouted, very energetic. Very different from he was a moment ago. He has some gleaming eyes now.

I blinked. Startled by his action. I turn to face Loki as his face covered by his bangs, but I can see a slight smirk decorating his face.

"Now, are you going to run or join us?" He jerked his thumb towards his chest.

Jeez, this guy. Like hell I would run.

I sighed, defeated. I never see Gray wanting something this much, and truth to be told he's the only who's been serious about the band in the first place. If I keep being the way I am right now, I'm just going to be some extra baggage for them, since I didn't take my role very seriously. I think I should try harder on this whole band thing and play to my heart content, so that even if we lose I can still look at them in the eyes and they will know that I didn't let them down, because I did everything I could to win the battle.

I grinned at them. "Yosha!" I pumped my fist into the air. "Let's win the hell out of this thing!"

"YEAAAAAH!" Gray screamed at the top of his lungs.

"LET'S GO! LET'S GO! LET'S BECOME NUMBER 1" screamed Loki.

"I'M GETTING FIREEED UP!" I screamed again because I don't want to lose to them.

"WHO'S GOING TO WIN THE BATTLE OF THE BAAANDS?" Gray shouted.

"WE AREEEEEE!" we shouted back in answer.

"OOOOOOOOHHH!" the three of us howled.

And so we continue to scream one after another, screaming some promises that we have no idea if we can accomplish that, being ambitious on becoming the winner at such crazy battle.

That afternoon turned out to be a wonderful afternoon as we keep on chanting about our goals. And so, for the first time, I feel like I can really win this thing with them.

* * *

The following day, I get up at 5:30 AM. Today is Saturday, and today is the day we decide to practice at my house and check out the newly born song made by Loki. I went downstairs and saw mom preparing herself some cup of coffee. "Morning." I say to my mom as I hug her from behind. She chuckled, "You're early."

"Going to take a run, Mom." I answered. I opened up the refrigerator and pull out a galloon of milk and pour it into a mug. I took a sip. _Aaaah_, there is nothing better than drinking milk in the morning. After I finished my milk, I'm out of the door for a ten-mile run.

When I'm outside, I quickly put on my earphone with music blasting through it, to accompany me through this lonely morning run. I take a look around me, I am shocked when Lucy is stretching on her driveway. Is she going to run?

"Oh, Hey." She greeted.

I nodded towards her directions.

"You're early" She jogs towards me.

This is my cue to pause the music.

"I love running in the am" I grinned.

"Great!" she grinned back. "Can we run together?" she offered.

"Uh," I hesitate for a moment because her eyes were amazing up close. I never paid attention to her before, and I certainly never realized that her eyes was this beautiful. I mean, they were really brown with yellow flecks in them. And also, her eyelashes, long and thick. I thought it was only a myth that girls can look this good in the morning. Seriously, her running gear, and her high ponytails is cute.

"Natsu?" she called out my name.

"Oh, yeah sorry." I mumbled. "Suit yourself," I said to her, trying to be cool as she nodded excitingly. I turn around to show her my back and play the music again. Avoiding any awkward conversation, and since Gray told me yesterday to watch out from practically everyone who have connection with Sabertooth, I decided I don't want to talk to her while running, she might bring something up concerning the band.

I run towards the park, and when I look over my shoulder, I see her still following behind me. We run our ten miles, and when I return to my house, Lucy runs pass me without saying anything, as if we had never known each other, I don't care anyway, she's an enemy. I ignore her behavior and went inside.

When I walk pass the kitchen, I see Wendy standing in the kitchen. "I saw you ran with a girl," she smirked. "Who is she?"

"You're very observant." I retorted, ignoring her last question.

"Well, yeah whatever. So, you like her?" she asked as she pulled a carton of ice cream out of the freezer.

I shrugged. "No, I didn't even talk to her" I told her.

"Oh. No wonder you don't have a love life."

"Thanks" I snorted at her as I grabbed mineral water out of the fridge, taking a deep gulp.

"She's pretty," she said, scooping the vanilla ice cream into a bowl.

Well, I have to agree with her on that.

"You don't know her?"

"No," she snorted at me.

"She's Lucy, you know, Lucy Heartfilia." I grabbed a spoon from the drawer.

"I don't remember her, but her name sounds familiar. Anyway," she grinned as she sliced the bananas and put it over her ice cream. After feeling satisfied with pouring some chocolate syrup over the ice cream, she looked from the bowl to me, then turn again and opened the fridge. "Strawberries!" she cheered, pulling out a pack of strawberries. She quickly put the strawberries into the bowl, creating a mess, but it looks like a delicious mess.

I grinned at her as we caught each other's eye, and then we dug in.

"I heard you're having the band practice in our house today," she scooped out a mouthful of ice cream and greedily put it all into her mouth. Very un-ladylike.

I nodded, fighting the brain freeze.

"When is Gray coming over?" she asked, taking another scoop.

"Soon,"

"Better to finish your practice before 4" Wendy told me.

"Why?"

Wendy looked up at me. "Because Sting and Rogue and the family will be coming over for dinner. Mom is cooking this big dinner."

Of course. It's the third week of the month, our big family usually gathers at one place for dinner. Why is Wendy has to reminded me about this? I just wanted to yank her perfect blue hair out of her head by the roots.

I suddenly had the crazy idea to pretend like I didn't know anything and spent the rest of the night at Gray's or Loki's. After all, Sting hated me and Rogue doesn't talk that much, he seems very passive and he usually just slept on the couch. But just as I was planning to get away from the dinner, Mom came in to the kitchen.

"Natsu, did you have a good run?" she hummed.

I mumbled.

"Oh, do you receive anything from Gray?"

Huh?

I raised my eyebrow at her.

"Ul said, she trusted the gift she wants to give me to Gray, so that he will give it you at school, so do you have it?"

Oh, that gift. "Yeah, I guess it's somewhere in my room."

Mom suddenly put her hands on her hip while scowling at me. "You're not going to get it for me?"

I slumped on the stool. "Mom, I just went back from a run, my legs feels like a jelly, and besides," I looked down at the bowl full of ice cream and then looked back up at mom with puppy wide eyes.

"Fine," mom sighed as she makes her way upstairs to my room.

Little did I know, that the steps she's taking is leading me to my doom.

"NATSU DRAGNEEL!" I jumped in shocked, as if there was some electricity running through my body that jolted me awake. My mom's voice was passionately furious.

"Ooooh, you're in troubleeeee big brother." Wendy cooed. "You ruined her mood," she smirked devilishly.

Forget the wrath of the titans, this is the wrath of mom!

I shivered and I feel very anxious.

Oh shit.

What did I do wrong this time?

"She sounds like she's going to kill you. Prepare for some drastic changes on your allowances" said Wendy.

Drastic Changes huh? An okay, but not great, possible band name.

But I shouldn't be really thinking about this right now, and I don't want to use that name since it's coming out from Wendy's mouth. I heard mom stomping her feet angrily and loudly on her way downstairs, I shivered once again.

"Explain this to me young man!" Mom smacked a piece of paper into the counter, startling me.

"Ex-explain wh-what?" I stuttered.

"You've been lying to me about your grades!" Mom shouted, a vein popped out from her forehead. "How long have you been hiding this from me?!"

WHAT?! She finally found it?! She must've been found it on my desk or my bag. I must've been careless about that piece of paper that contains all of my grades this past semester. "Well, that depends on how you define lying" I coughed, thinking to get this way through.

"Lying is not telling the truth, Natsu. What do you think?" Mom voice is sharp.

"Reclining your body in a horizontal position…"

"Seriously?" she put her right hand on her hips and raised her eyebrow at me.

I gulped.

"You're not going anywhere for two weeks, young man! No band's practice for today also!" she starts shouting.

Wh-what? "WHAAAAT?" I shouted back.

She jerked her face away from me, making her way out of the kitchen, probably going to tell Dad about this.

"Mom, wait!" she ignored me.

No band's practice for today?! But it's the day to check out the new songs! There's only three weeks to the semifinals, and it feels like it's the end even before we start playing our original song.

As I was lose in thoughts of all the possibility about behaving nice to my Mom, like giving her a massage or something, Mom came back into the kitchen.

"Your dad wants to talk to you," she announced, and I frowned but actually… I was smirking in the inside.

I am extremely close with Dad, I bet he'll let go of me. He always does.

I was halfway out of the kitchen when Mom smiles return to her face as she said to Wendy, "Are you ready to lend your energy to make this family feast?" Mom grinned as Wendy squealed. "Sure, I'm excited!"

I guess the dinner is going to really happen.

Guess it's going to be a long night.

Dad greeted me with a grin as soon as he saw me walks in to the living room.

I grinned back at him. "Mom is getting too worked up isn't she?"

He chuckle. "Oi brat, you can't lie to your mom! Stop being pain in the ass for her! She blackmails me so that I won't go easy on you this time," he clicked on his tongue.

I scratched the back of my neck clumsily. "Well,"

"Say, Natsu, have you given university any more thought?" he says.

Suddenly a serious aura surrounded my Dad's.

All everyone's been talking about at school is university application. Gray is thinking this through it scares me. Even Loki is so frantic like he's on fire.

"Your future depends on your education, Natsu."

I looked down, slightly embarrassed. Even though Gray always playing with me, he still can keep up with the subjects and maintain his grades. A not-so-good-but-okay grade. "I know."

"You sure? If you knew you wouldn't be sitting around"

"I'm not sitting around!" I yell a little to loudly.

"Natsu," he paused. I walk towards him and sit in front of him. "Have you given up on soccer?"

I quickly looked up at him.

"No! It's not like that!" I retorted. But then I realized that I have no more words that can back up my speech.

"Still mad at Sting?"

This isn't like Dad. He never such the serious type, he always go easy on me. On top of it all, why is he asking me such question? Is it a trap question? Despite my closeness with Dad, I can't bring myself to tell him the truth.

"No," I said, hating myself. "I'm not mad at him." I said through my gritted teeth and clenched fist.

I'm not even going to talk about Sting with my dad.

"Say, how long has it been since the last time you play soccer?" He asked.

"A year ago," I mumbled.

He smiled. "Hey, is going back to soccer and going to university is really that scary?

I was stunned by his question but I quickly stand up, "N-No, what are you talking about?!"

"Then why won't you play? You told me yourself, when you still a first year," he took a sip of drink in front of him. "You're going to be Fiore's number one striker and join Fairy Tail with your skill"

My heart beats loudly every time I heard Fairy Tail.

Fairy Tail… huh? Top university with such a scary soccer team, even I was thrilled to be scouted by Fairy Tail. The famous old coach Makarov who lead the team into the Grand Tournament and actually win it… even by just thinking about it I'm excited.

Suddenly a flash of memories when I'm still in a soccer club came rushing back. The joy of winning something, the adrenaline of running across the field, the excitement I got when I scored a goal, and the fact that my dad always watch my match. He's the local legend after all…

"I know it's scary to join that team, with such ridiculously good athletes, but you never really such a type of person who gives up, am I right?" somehow Dad's voice soothes my anxiety.

But it's not that I don't want to play soccer, it's another reason, and one of the main reasons is because… The Battle of the Bands.

But I don't want to ruin my Dad's expectations, I want to live to his expectation… just by thinking of neglecting his expectations already made me want to cry.

"Please," my voice was quiet and pathetic. "I know I've been slacking off even though this is my third year, but just let me play in the Battle of the Bands! I swear once it's done I continue to focus on soccer again!" I beg him while bowing down in front of him. "I can't turn my back against my friend, so please let me play in the Battle of the Bands and after that, I will strive myself to improve in soccer!"

Dad smiled at me once again. Why is he so calm at facing his wrecked son? "Fine then,"

Then I gave him a big smile.

"Now," his voice is deep. "GO TAKE A SHOWER YOU BRAT! YOU STINK!" He kicked me as I run upstairs to take a shower.

Jeez, Dad you never changed.

I found myself smiling while I make my way upstairs.

I took a deep breath and exhale slowly. "YOSSHAAAAA! WINNING THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS AND GETTING BACK TO SOCCER NEXT! GO GO GO! NATSU NATSU! GO ME GO ME!" I shouted very loudly and very energetic as I pumped my fist up and down.

What can I say? I'm specialized in fighting spirit!

* * *

Ooooooooh what happened between Natsu and Sting? And why they still hating on each other?! Guess you have to wait for the next chapter! ;D


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